Jack Rafferty is still texting his mom.
“On the Thursday before my fight, I texted her 38 minutes after three saying, ‘I’m going to win that British title for you. I love you, I will make you proud of me. Just look, red heart of love. Your son will be a British, Commonwealth and WBC silver champion.
“I knew I would win. I had this premonition and it all came true.”
Rafferty (24-0 (15 KO) knows he will never hear back. His mother died almost four years ago. Sending these texts is the best way he can let her know he has kept his promises to her.
On Saturday night, Rafferty defeated undefeated Henry Turner in Liverpool to add the vacant British super lightweight title to his Commonwealth belt.
For seven rounds, the talented Turner consistently implemented his pre-fight plan. After nine rounds, the fight was over.
For most people, this will be their first contact with a Shaw competitor who has been competing on tiny indoor tracks for years.
Rafferty, 29, is known as “The Demolition Man”, but over the years his trainer Steve Maylett has perfected his aggressive style.
Instead of taking him out with a hammer, Maylett has steadily improved Rafferty’s skills and every fight is now a well-planned, controlled demolition.
Rafferty’s confidence in Maylett was evident in his complete lack of panic as the rounds progressed. Turner boxed and moved well, but he moved too much. When he finally had to stop and keep his feet, Rafferty took advantage of the moment. Turner’s corner took him out of the fight after a brutal finish to the ninth round.
As of Monday afternoon, his achievement still hadn’t sunk in.
“No, nowhere near it,” he said. “I woke up this morning and the first thing I said was, ‘I can’t believe I’m British champion.’
“I didn’t even watch the fight. I watched all the videos and watched the clips that were posted on Instagram. I didn’t watch it from start to finish.
“I’m pissed off with my performance and pissed off at how bad my hands were when I allowed myself to hit some shots. But you know, there’s still something to work on.
“I injured my bicep in the third round and I guess you could say I wasn’t that acute, but was he exceptionally acute?”
Rafferty took an exhausted 24-year-old Turner down strenuous at the end of the ninth episode, and as he sat down on a stool, he couldn’t lend a hand but glance over Maylett’s shoulder to see what was happening in the opposite corner. He understood what had happened in front of his coach.
“I knew it,” he said. “I saw him bury his head in the towel and I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t want to say anything because I don’t want to get mad at Steve telling me to focus on this fight,’ but I did. I said, “Steve, he’ll pull it, he’ll hold it.” He said, “Jack, get your shit together for this fight.” I said, “Steve, stop,” and jumped up.
“Every British player has to win this British title. It’s like stage one and stage five, and stage five is the world title. Stage one through three, I can close this book. Boom. Then you will move on to the next stage.”
Reaching the next stage wasn’t basic.
It’s been seven years since Rafferty turned professional, and until Saturday night at the M&S Bank Arena, each of them had been spent in leisure centers and tiny venues. Until June, he had never even boxed on TV; his stoppage of India’s Sabari Jaishankar was shown on DAZN.
Rafferty’s mother may not be there to support him emotionally, but she still plays a key role in helping him achieve his dreams. Rafferty estimates he has spent around £25,000 in 2022 in a desperate attempt to stay dynamic. Much of that sum came from the money she left him. Finally, his chance came this weekend.
Turner was a multiple-time amateur national champion and worked strenuous to take his style to the professional level. He continues to improve and has become accustomed to boxing at major events and dealing with the media attention that comes with it.
It is very basic for a B-side promotion player – especially one who is not familiar with the gigantic events – to develop an inferiority elaborate, accept a tiny part in the spectacle and retreat into his shell.
Aware that he likely wouldn’t get another chance if he let this one get out of hand, Rafferty was determined to impose himself on the fight during the opening press conference and made sure Turner and his team knew it, although he was grateful for the opportunity to do much, much more than just taking part.
“I immediately felt like he respected me,” Rafferty said. “I knew I was bigger and better than him and I thought, ‘Actually, he’s here because of me – yes, I may come out last, but he’s fighting me because of what I did.’
“He showed up overdue in the [final] press conference I told him about at the weigh-in. I said, “Listen, you’re overdue for the press conference and you’re going to be runner-up.” I felt like I won the press conference, if that means anything. I felt like I looked better than him, which doesn’t mean anything, but I felt more grown up; I felt more experienced. I felt like I had done this before and I hadn’t.
“I wanted this. As I told you in the post-fight interview, I closed my eyes and spoke in interviews. I closed my eyes and spoke at press conferences.
“I imagined things like this.
“If you look at me when I walk into the room, I look around at everyone. I shake my head and think, “No, I deserve to be here.” I felt I was in the right place at the right time.”
Winning the British title means the world to Rafferty and his brother Tom [who is also an unbeaten professional]and his father Dave, but there is absolutely no sense that the work has been done.
Before his first-round knockout victory over Lee Appleyard in December, Rafferty told me he sat down and calculated exactly how many days he needed to stay fully committed and focused to achieve everything he wanted.
One of his main goals has been scratched and he has plenty of time to pursue the rest of his dreams.
On Sunday, Rafferty took his newly won titles to his mother’s grave. If all goes according to plan, he should make many more similar visits in the future.
“The plans now are to grow and listen to Steve and dedicate my life until I am 34,” he said.
“Steve said, ‘We’ll get you the British title and then let’s go for the world title.’ Everyone wants to win the world title, but as Steve said, let’s get the British title out of the way first.
“Not only do I have an basic opponent there. He’ll be hazardous in 24 months, this Henry Turner. It will be unbelievable. I beat a good opponent there. It wasn’t just Henry Turner – it was really good Henry Turner.
“I won’t say, ‘I want to win the world title next.’ I’m going to work towards a world title. I’m going to move up to super lightweight and I’ll stay that way, it won’t be a problem.
“Now I will transplant all the time. I’m going on a spa day for my girlfriend and that’s the only day I have booked.
— The plane has already taken off. It will end when I retire – 1,500 days and I hope I never have to work again in my life. This is what I want to do.
I hope these gigantic money fights come next. I’m going to transplant strenuous for them. I’ll improve at the gym. I will do it. I know I will, and you know what? One day, when all is said and done, I will be able to sit back and think, “There was nothing more I could have done.” That’s all I could do.
“This is the feeling I want. But I will do it by winning the world title.”
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